Nottingham Forest’s team spirit pleases Aitor Karanka

The team spirit on show in Nottingham Forest’s draw at newly-promoted Wigan Athletic has pleased Reds boss Aitor Karanka.

Forest twice came from behind at the DW Stadium on Saturday in a 2-2 draw.

Matty Cash responded in the first half to cancel out Nick Powell’s opener before the hosts retook the lead through Will Grigg’s penalty, but substitute Hillal Soudani rescued a point with a late leveller for the Reds.

“I think the main thing was the point and the spirit of the team until the last second,” said Karanka. “I said that we didn’t play well last Saturday but I think it was impossible to play worse than we did in the first half.

“I told them that it will be a similar game to the one last season that we played against Millwall. Wigan have the momentum from promotion and they are really strong.

“We have to keep going and we can’t forget that we have been working together for just one month or one-month-and-a-half. Even without playing our best or when we play bad, we don’t lose the game and that is the main thing.

“Players who were on the bench or who weren’t playing are going onto the pitch and they are changing games so it is positive. We need to keep going and create that momentum.”